I know i've asked this before, but I want to re-ask the question again, because Adam kept asking me this question, and outside already discussed issues, I was out of ideas.

Outside of a Tunnel or a bridge being built for the SL over the Chelsea Creek, what are YOUR recommendations to mitigate the bridge issue?

Somebody at ArchBoston must have a better answer than I did, yes? I'm glad I tried addressing it as an information problem (nail the up/down times to power predictive re-routes, instead of reactive). Consider that the organization-and-signals phase

Here are some right of way items:

EASTERN RUN-AROUND
- Bus Lanes on 1A (also for use by the 424,434,450,448,449, & 459) (mentioned by others, above)
- bus-and-bike the old RR shoreline grade
- Add a new SL that goes out 1A bus lanes and taps off riders in Revere and Everett where the 110, 111, 116, 117, and 119 start in Revere or Woodlawn (in Everett)

WESTERN RUN-AROUND
- Use Condor St in East Boston for a better Western Runaround (consolidate parking on the south side of the street, where the residences are). Give Condor St a bus-and-bike lane on its north side.

- Or make other east Boston streets (those currently served by buses, so the neighbors are helped) easier for run-around: Lexington St (where the 121 runs) or Bennington St (where the 120 runs)

RUNAROUND PRIORITY
Transit Signal Priority on both run-arounds, to access and cross the alternative bridges. To be shared with the many 11x and 4xx buses that go those ways.'
Also put TSP on MA-107 so that the SL can come back in that way (helps the 116, 117 too)

__________________"Trying to solve congestion by making roadways wider is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger pants."--Charles Marohn

After watching the video, I looked at Google Maps typical traffic a bit and was surprised that the Tobin seems to stay green weekday afternoons.

Page 6 of ftp://ctps.org/pub/Express_Highway_V...te_1_North.pdf has hourly traffic counts for the morning peak from 2007. I was surprised to discover that the peak hour only had 3,600 vehicles crossing the Tobin southbound, which would probably fit just fine into two of the three lanes. A southbound bus lane on the Tobin would change where the queue gets stored, which might slow other traffic to the north which exits onto Route 16 or even further north, but if traffic hasn't increased since 2007, a bus lane on the Tobin Bridge probably wouldn't reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles crossing it.

It appears that if there were a bus route that stopped at the busway's Eastern Ave, Box District, and Bellingham Sq stops, and skipped Market Basket, that the US 1 southbound on ramp at the Arlington St / 5th St intersection would be quite easy for the bus to get to. The reverse direction US 1 to busway route isn't so convenient, and getting from Eastern Ave to the Arlington / 5th intersection involves a certain amount of going north to go south.

If the morning Tobin congestion could be dealt with somehow, I'm wondering if it would make sense to run a one way loop that would start at Haymarket, follow 111's route from Haymarket to the Park St @ Hawthorne St bus stop in Chelsea that both 111 and 112 serve, then travel along Central Ave making at least one of the stops 112 serves, then stop at Eastern Ave, Box District, and Bellingham Sq and continue onto US 1 back to Haymarket. If this is going to be done, it might make sense to start with assigning it four 40' buses during the afternoon peak, if that's successful, expand it to the morning peak, and if that's also successful, expand its hours further. (If it eventually runs 18+ hours a day 7 days a week, I think that might be good, but I also think starting with just the hours most likely to attract strong ridership would be good. And if Boston builds Congress St bus lanes someday, it might also make sense to extend this route to South Station.)

1) Prob not until 2019 for the procurement to start. Then its 1-2 years after that depending on manufacture and acceptance by the T. Its in the CIP so funding has been allocated for it. Its just a matter of time now.

2) Not sure what the deal is. They keep saying the bridge was the issue but how much more accurate data do they need? :-) I'm starting to wonder if it something else.

3) Not until AFC 2.0 . The T thought it was a waste of money to put vending machines this year, only to rip them out by 2020 when AFC 2.0 comes along. However, the T says we will be the first to get the new machines since we do not have any.

Born in Chelsea in 1951, left in 1974. When I read about the plans for SL3 all I could think of was "What a crock!" I am not the least bit surprised by this "too cheap to build a subway line " BRT crap.

The 116/117 used to run up Central Ave to Wood Island back in the day and it was the best way into Boston. Even the occasional drawbridge opening wasn't too long.

This is pretty interesting. I dont ever take the silver line so I was curious how this all tied together. Someone filmed the entire silver line route from Chelsea to South Station. Overall it looks very efficient because a lot of it is traffic separated until you get to the tunnel, then you spend just as long in traffic as the whole trip takes. Besides having to use the Ted, it looks pretty good.

A new tunnel would be great for addressing this issue now on the bus route as is, then later it can be included into the conversion to rail. Anyways they seem to have done a great job with what they had.